Searching for research data (teaching material for students)
Research data is not collected and indexed in the same way as literature, and there are no standardised search strategies. Therefore, when searching for research data, you will likely experience a very different process compared to a more “conventional” search for literature.
On this page, you will find teaching materials focusing on how to search for research data specifically. The teaching materials consist of a PowerPoint presentation and a teacher’s guide, available in both Danish and English.
Searching for research data is originally designed as a 4-hour course targeting PhD students and researchers. This 2-hour course for students is an adapted version of the 4-hour course and intended as an Open Library Course. The course is aimed at students at both bachelor’s and master’s level from all disciplines. Prior knowledge of data management and data searching is not required to participate in the course.
The 2-hour course is composed of traditional classroom teaching and a selection of different activities: short practical exercises; a longer workshop section where the students get the opportunity to test the presented search strategies; and a concluding reflective exercise to wrap up the course.
The teaching materials focus on how to search for research data in relevant bibliographic databases, repositories, and search engines that are specifically tailored to data searching. However, time is also allocated to exploring data outside academia (e.g. official statistics produced by international organisations).
In addition, the teaching materials address practical aspects related to the data search process, including potential limitations when using other people’s research data and how to cite the data that are found.
It is comprised of four sections that can be adapted depending on how much time is available. The teacher’s guide mainly provides an overview of the 2-hour course; suggestions for alternative ways to use the slides can be found at the end of the guide.
Before you begin, we recommend that you download and read the teacher’s guide (see below) to get an overview of the course and the activities. In the teacher’s guide, you will also find suggestions for alternative ways to mix and match the slides for different teaching scenarios and time frames. Please see the appendix attached to the guide for the handouts (to be used in the course).